The Copier Store
by InsanityIsClarity
Summary: After the events of The Gobblewonker, Stan goes to the copier store to print off some photos and hangs them up around the shack.


**AN: Here's another GF one-shot!**

 **DISCLAIMER: Alex Hirsch owns Gravity Falls. (And aren't we all scared?)**

If he was being honest with himself, half the reason he was getting these printed out was the copy machine in his office, the one that could create human copies from photo copies. He half had them printed so that, when the twins left, he could always create a carbon copy of them to talk to for a few hours to keep the loneliness at bay.

The other reason he had them printed out was so his goal would seem more realistic. Seeing a picture of his great niece and nephew smiling and enjoying each other's company made getting back and enjoying his own twin's company all the more realistic.

A third reason, one he wouldn't even quite admit to himself even if he was being honest, for why he was on his way to do what he was was because he actually kind of... liked the twins. They were good kids; it seemed like Mabel's optimism and Dipper's curiosity would never quite get old. Sure their were parallels between him and Ford, but they were also their own people. Mabel was much more positive and imaginative, while Stanley was more realistic and crafty. Ford was more analytical and unbiased, while Dipper often let his emotions creep into his decisions (although not as much as Stanley or Mabel, whose emotions ran their decisions).

It was for these three reasons that Stan found himself walking towards the copier store with a swiped (he'd return it to Dipper later) camera.

Finally making his way through the door of Copier Store, the copier store, Stan walked up to the counter. "Hey, uh, lady- you are a lady, right?- could you print the pictures off of this thingimawhatsit?"

* * *

About half an hour later, Stan strolled out of the copier store with one of each of the pictures from the fishing trip, two pictures of Soos, and two more pictures they had taken on their first day in Gravity Falls- one of those self-picture thingies he was always for getting the slang word for. (And why not forget it? He couldn't remember what it was, but he did remember finding it really stupid.)

He got into the STNLYMBL and drove home. _Home,_ he thought. _Maybe it wasn't originally mine, but it sure feels like it is now. And when I get Sixer back..._

Cutting off that thought right there, Stan wandered inside "his" home. He walked inside and started to complete his list of things to do.

1\. Put Soos's Employee of the Month picture up in his office. (Because the kid really did deserve it. Because he cared more about Stan's ruse than he himself ever did... Stanley just cared about what my cover-up is covering up.)

2\. Put a picture of Mabel and Dipper from the fishing trip up next to his mirror. (It's no coincidence that this picture goes into the place a picture of him and his own twin used to be. He had thought he could put up a picture of him and Ford to motivate him more, but all it did was made him more depressed. Like a dream that would never be realized. The picture of Mabel and Dipper was different however... because they were a dream that was being realized. They were so smart and bright and happy and he was sure they wouldn't make the same mistakes he had made.)

3\. Put Soos's Employee of the Year picture up next to his mirror. (Because when Dipper and Mabel were still babies, when Ford was still a lost cause, and just after both his parents had died, Soos was like the family he wanted and never realized he had. He wouldn't learn Soos's story until after the man-child's 22nd birthday, but Soos had always looked up to him as sort of a father figure, and even though he didn't realize it until many, many years later, he sort of thought as Soos as a son. And when all Stan needed was family... Soos was like family.)

4\. Put the picture the twins had taken on their first day in Gravity Falls in the basement. (So that on late nights when he was up late working, he'd remember the dream he was working towards. Working to have a relationship at least as fourth as amazing as his great-niece and nephew shared. So when he thought life wouldn't get any better than endlessly trying at something he'd probably never succeed at, he'd look at that picture and realize that it already had gotten better.)

5\. Put the picture of Soos, Wendy, Mabel, Dipper, and himself in his coat pocket. (To remember that he had people who cared. That he wasn't alone. But this picture had two purposes- and the second one was far more important: to remember to protect them. To protect the teen who would probably be protecting him better than he her with those axe skills she had. To protect the man-child that had somehow made it into his family. To protect the girl that was almost too trusting and optimistic. To protect the boy who practically went walking into trouble with that curiosity of his. To protect his new family.)

* * *

By this time, Stan had made his way back around to the living room chair... just in time for the twins to come running in, plop down in front of him on the floor and turn on that TV show about the duck. Stan was just about to scoff at the fact that the stupid detective couldn't tell that a body slammed into a phone booth was clearly murder when...

"That duck is a genius!"

"Eh, it's easier to find clues when you're that close to the ground."

"Are you saying you could outwit Duck-tective?"

 _Ah, family..._


End file.
